Four Years Later, in a Tea Shop
by Lilly Rae
Summary: It's been four years since the war ended & everything is relatively calm when he goes to visit his uncle at the Jasmine Dragon when his eye is caught by one of those infamous 'Girls From Ba Sing Se', until she opens her mouth & says, "You know, Sparky, considering you missed my last four birthdays, the least you could do is say 'hi' before you started staring like a freak."


**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender nor am I connected to it in any way. This is a fan fiction simply for my enjoyment and for the enjoyment of others :)**

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Fire Lord Zuko walked into the Jasmine Dragon, his uncle's renown tea shop in Ba Sing Se. As it was each time the Fire Nation ruler came to visit, the shop was jam packed with customers enjoying the general-turned-tea-'guru''s fine refreshments. Iroh's full deep bass rang out through the open air from the back.

"It's a long long way to Ba Sing Se. But the girls in the city, they look so pret-ty!"

Zuko chuckled as he made his way to the counter in the back of the main room, hoping to catch the eye of the cheerful old man through the order window. But instead his attention was turned to the young Earth Kingdom girl behind the counter. Ebony hair swept up in a bun, a green head band that did nothing to hold back the long loose bangs covering her alabaster forehead and eyes. She was petite but obviously at least in her late teens. The green in her green and gold rode was a few shades lighter than the other employees, fitted close only to her waist.

"You know, Sparky, considering you missed my last four birthdays, the least you could do is say 'hi' before you started staring like a freak." The rough words coming from the soft sweet looking girl in front of him broke Zuko out of his reverie and he caught a look of the hazy sea foam eyes upon her face.

"Toph?" he asked incredulously.

"The one and only," came her pride filled reply. "Metalbender extraordinaire." He had a flash of her childhood self doing the same as she puffed out her chest. 'The effect was quite different back then,' he thought.

"-to meet the girls from BA SING SE!" Toph shook her head and leaned into the kitchen.

"Hey windbags, let one of those sad excuses for cooks make the tea. Royalty has graced us with its presence today," she called out making Zuko scowl. There was a flurry of noise before the round bellied firebender emerged, arms filled with a tray of tea.

"Zuko!" Iroh placed the tray on the counter and wrapped his arms around his beloved nephew. "Toph, goodness! Royalty indeed! Why didn't you say it was my dear nephew?"

"Oh you know you loved the surprise." A smile crept onto the bender's lips as she watched the two. "Soo, take care of the shop for a bit," she said to a man in the back as Iroh led Zuko up a stairway to the grand penthouse apartment upstairs. She followed along, grabbing the discarded tea tray as well. The booming voice of the shop owner met her as she stepped into the apartment.

"I figured you'd want that tea after all, Uncle," she said affectionately, earning a raised eyebrow from Zuko. Iroh chuckled and gestured for Toph to grab a pillow and join them. Toph Beifong was not the affectionate type. Of course, that was fourteen year-old Toph, and it was beginning to seem that the eighteen year-old girl beside him was quite different indeed.

"So I've gained you as a sister, eh Toph?"he joked, taking a sip of his tea. Her cloudy eyes looked straight at him and he was struck with how very strange it was to have blind eyes look at his face with almost absolute certainty even after knowing her for seven years.

"While I am a definite improvement of Miss WolfBat crazy, I am quite thankfully not related to you." The 'Blind Bandit' took a slurp of her tea. "Although maybe if I was, you'd take time out of your oh so busy schedule to come and visit." Iroh shook his head at the pair. Thought she'd never admit it aloud, he knew that the young woman was hurt at his nephew's negligence in regard to visiting.

"Now the you two, behave. Tell me Zuko, what news do you have? It's been quite some time since your last letter."

"I've been traveling. Aang and Katara have been visiting the old air temples and asked some assistance in transporting what they could salvage and restoring what must not be moved. And of course I had to stop in on Kyoshi Island to see Sokka and Suki. They asked me to tell you that they've planned their wedding for late spring, early summer. That was not a fun conversation to have considering Mai showed up to visit Ty Lee. She was glaring daggers hard enough that I feared she may start throwing her own." The unlikely pair, Blind Bandit and Dragon of the West, guffawed at the young Fire Lord's expense.

For a long while it had seemed as though Zuko would make the dour, sour noblewoman his Fire Lady, but one so passionate as the firebending young man could not be tied to a woman so utterly dispassionate except in anger. So after a time, to the surprise of many, Fire Lord Zuko broke off his relationship with the dark and gloomy maiden. Many of the walls ad doors of the ornate palace bore the ghosts of scars from her _very passionate_ response.

"It's okay Princess, love just isn't meant for everyone," Toph fake sympathized with a snicker.

He glowered at her but forced himself to removed his eyes from her figure to glare at the tea pot as he said with a scoff, "Well, you'd know all about that wouldn't you Toph?"

Iroh smiled a teasing grin at the Earthbender. "Actually our Toph has quite the string of suitors. Why just the other day-"

"Iroh! We are not talking about those...those weaselrat. They don't even deserve to be called 'boys'. Can we not get back to Sparky's abysmal love life and stay away from mine?" Toph's cheeks hinted at a slight blush as she shot a glare in the old man's direction. Belly jiggling with his rumbling laughter, Iroh shook his head.

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**It has been quite some time since I even attempted any sort of A:tLA fan fiction but I'm hoping that I have at least improved in my writing since last I tried. Well, I hope you enjoy this first chapter and that it entices you to stick around for the next one :)**

**~Lilly Rae~**


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